Woodlands, would make the board a fully elected five-member body with one member from each county commissioner precinct and one at-large member elected countywide.

The current board consists of nine appointed members, including: two by Commissioners Court and one each by the City of Conroe, the group of other smaller cities in Montgomery County, Woodlands Joint Powers Agency, municipal utility districts east of Interstate 45, MUDs west of I-45, the soil conservation district and the San Jacinto River Authority.

"This is about bringing accountability and transparency to the board of the directors," Metcalf said. "The current board makeup is clearly not working for Montgomery County as a whole. It makes no sense to me that we give all of these special interests a seat at the table, but our citizens have absolutely no voice on the current Board. HB 1982 gives our citizens a voice and a seat at the table. Under HB 1982, these new board members will be held accountable to the citizens of all of Montgomery County, and all of Montgomery County will have representation when this bill becomes law."

"Given the statutory charge of the district and the contentiousness now surrounding appointments to the board," Bell said, "I believe the best interests of Montgomery County and of our constituents are served by establishing the right of our citizens to elect the individuals who will serve on the board of the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District."

"After months of discussions with constituents and stakeholders, the fruits of those discussions have turned into House Bill 1982, which will bring much-needed accountability and transparency to a government entity with the power to impose fees on our county's citizens." Keough said. "I am proud to be working with the entire Montgomery County delegation to bring about change to this board and allow the people to have a say on the directors, who ultimately have the power to make many changes to our way of life and in our use of a natural resource. Protecting citizens' water rights is a duty I don't take lightly and this bill will ensure the citizens of Montgomery County have the last say in what regulations they want to see imposed on a resource that is very precious to them."

The Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District boundaries match those of Montgomery County. The district was created in 2001 under the current board structure. There are 99 groundwater districts in Texas. Sixty-six are single-county districts like LSGCD. Fifty-six of the single county district boards are elected positions. Lone Star GCD is currently the only groundwater district in Texas with a river authority on its board of the directors.

If passed by the Legislature, the first election for the new board would take place in November 2018, and the new board would be sworn in January 2019.

State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, is expected to file similar legislation in the Senate.